Northeast needs Val Arkoosh
The Democratic primary election for the Pennsylvania 13th Congressional District, which includes much of the Northeast, is coming up right around the corner on May 20.
From what I’ve seen throughout her candidacy, I really like the physician candidate running in the race, Dr. Val Arkoosh. She doesn’t appear to be running for Congress to climb the political ladder; she’s running because she believes in our communities and neighborhoods.
I first saw Val on TV a few months ago talking about health care reform. Val was a leader down in Washington to get the Affordable Care Act passed.
Since then, she has continued her work by pressing Gov. Corbett to expand Medicaid so that all of Pennsylvania’s working families can have affordable health insurance. Now, Val wants to go to Congress to continue helping our communities get ahead in other areas. She talks about creating jobs by investing in infrastructure, restoring federal funding to public education and raising an outdated minimum wage.
And given her medical and health policy background, I’m confident that Val is best qualified to continue improving the Affordable Care Act from a position in Congress.
Val brings something different to the table. I’ve talked with friends and neighbors who now have health insurance thanks to the health care reform that she worked on. The Northeast would be in good hands with someone like Val Arkoosh representing us in Congress.
Tim Scott
Somerton
It is time to boycott Nabisco
So Nabisco is moving its operations from many of its American cities. They are moving to Mexico. There, they will be paying the workers $3 per hour.
This means more Americans are out of work. Seems that the company’s $2.3 billion profit after taxes isn’t enough profit.
Talk about greed.
I think for their loyalty to the American workers, we should all stop buying their products. Find something other than Oreos to buy. Buy American.
Marvin Garber
Pennypack
Kennedy and Reagan’s historic speeches were effective
A letter writer in the April 2 issue criticizes you for printing Tom Stiglich’s cartoon, which recalled JFK’s and Reagan’s famous speeches in Berlin and compared them humorously to Obama’s handling of the Crimean crisis.
The writer dismisses these two very powerful historic speeches (JFK’s “Ich bin ein Berliner!” and Reagan’s “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”) as “neither of which was of any actual consequence in the 1991 demise of the Soviet Union.”
This is absolutely false. The writer, in his eager defense of Obama, goes on to insult both presidents by claiming that they were “simply mouthing empty words.”
JFK’s 1963 speech was a clear statement of U.S. solidarity with West Berlin in the wake of the construction of the Berlin Wall by the Soviet-supported Communist government of East Germany. The tremendous response of the crowd of 450,000 speaks for itself.
In 1987, Reagan invoked both the legacy and emotion of Kennedy’s speech when — in defiance of our state department — he demanded that Soviet leader Gorbachev tear down the wall that became the symbol of Communist oppression. This became one of his most memorable speeches, and the reaction of the crowd was tremendous. Two years later, the wall came down, foreshadowing the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe. There is a memorial today near the spot where Reagan uttered his unforgettable words. In a less well-known portion of his speech, Reagan went on: “Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall, for it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom.”
Both Kennedy and Reagan knew that words matter and they used them effectively.
Leo Iwaskiw
Somerton
